Low Tide: No more bikes to ride :(

So the other day we decided to bike on over to the light rail station and take it into the city for the day to do some job searching. I'll tell you what, bike riding is probably one of the more fun things that a lot of people stop doing when they become "adults".  Riding down a hill, with the wind in your face and the smells of fresh car exhaust in your nostrils really takes you back and is an amazing way to get around. My mom bought me a sweet reflector and a headlight so I was all set and feeling like a little schoolboy riding a brand new huffy!

Unfortunately, that day we did not make it out of the city and ended up staying and hanging out with my buddy Brent for the day. We left our bikes locked up at the light rail station and when we went back the next day to retrieve them, we found that our locks had been cut and the bikes had been stolen.

I considered not writing about this because we feel real stupid about it but I think that it is very important for people to understand that we are not in "Kansas" anymore (Tolland, where we grew up, where the only thing stolen were some spices from John Brows house...and that was me). It is an eye opening experience for something like this to happen to you. No doubt we were mad but we honestly felt more disappointed  in ourselves for being so naive to the thought of a crime like this happening. We live and we learn, and you can bet we won't make the same mistake for the rest of our lives.

Now on the other hand we found a couple clues at the crime scene: a banana peel and a small bracelet. We are on the case as we now have added detective to our list of occupations. Top suspect: A well accessorized  chimp. We wont give up on these bikes!

Here is a rainbow to cheer you up after that depressing post. Through the dark of the storm there is always light shining. All you have to do is bend it.

Oktoberfest!!!

Love me some beer and brats so you know I wasn't missing Oktoberfest Denver.  Went downtown last night and checked out the festivities.  Great atmosphere.  German beer girls, music, huge steins and all the sausage, brats, and wienerschnitzel you could eat!  (Eric decided to get tacos)

Awesome events like Keg Bowling and Bag Toss were taking place.  I decided to enter one of the best events going, the Stein Hoisting competition.  My dreams of being a hoisting champion were cut short when I came in fourth in my heat.  My time of 3 minutes and change didn't even come close to some blokes' 7:05.  I'll get em next year, training starts Monday.

I didn't go home empty handed though.  After filling out a quick survey I got my chance to spin the wheel for a free stein.   Hit the winner slot right on the nose and walked out of there with my head held high.  Next stop Price is Right.

Picture Splurge!

Not much to post about today but here are some pictures from my phone of some sweet things. The first is a picture of a gas station, well its more of just a pump, on the bear tooth highway. You can drive on roads that take you up to 12,000 ft elevation. Really cool.

This is a picture of some sort of demon, or whatever you wish to imagine, coming out of the clouds. Also on the bear tooth.

This is a sign on the bear tooth at the gas pump thing. Pretty cool that I knew that I was 1,864 miles away from my sister in New York.

This one is at Yellowstone on some weird path that we found while wandering.,


So Evan is about to enter a stein hoisting competition at Oktoberfest Denver! Should be an interesting afternoon.

Stress Roller Coaster

I would like to take a minute to discuss the situation that Evan and I are finding ourselves in. We are both just out of college and we both do not have jobs. We saved up enough money to make a move and thanks to some friends in Denver we have been able to set up a place to live. The stressful part is that we don't have jobs. As many people may know already, money is kind of essential to doing pretty much anything and we find ourselves spending more and more each day. (All to items on the first level of Maslow's hierarchy of course, such as new harmonicas)

Anywho, the job search process is one of the most stressful but rather entertaining parts of moving. Each day we look for opportunities but its about finding the right job where you are going to be happy and work the amount that you want to work while accomplishing your other goals. One might say that it is a roller coaster of stress and happiness that we are on. The fact that we don't have jobs is very stressful but the possibilities that lie in front of us are endless and at this point in our lives, anything and I do mean ANYTHING, is possible. It takes a determined and productive mind combined with confidence and motivation and you would be surprised with what can be accomplished. Big things are to come from myself and my compadres.

Communicate with everyone and show respect everywhere you are and the people you meet and the interactions you have will guide you on an unforgettable journey. Turtle love.

These pics are of Evans emotions through the job search process. For any modeling agencies out there reading....this guy is pure gold!!!

Just Denver Being Denver

Check out this sweet as (shout out to my New Zealand viewers) "Party Bus" we stumbled across in Lower Downtown. 

Yup, its exactly what you think it is.  A bar on wheels surrounded by 12 seats with a steering wheel in the middle for the tender.  You pedal and drink while the bartender steers.  Genius! The Pedal Hopper can be rented for two hours where you are guided on a three bar pub crawl.  Simple and effective.  I love the idea of a group of drunks pedaling around a designated driver.  Seems fair to me.  Looking forward to giving this a try one of these days ... just need to find 10 friends.

Fort Collins? or "Best f***ing Place ever" Collins

So first off I would like to apologize to the readers for the lack of updates. We have been super busy with moving and figuring out the reason of life to keep up with the blog daily. The struggle will continue but as long as we have a steady fan base we will continue to post as much as possible. (By fan base I pretty much mean my lovely mother)

Anywho, on our way to Denver we stopped in Fort Collins. The town is absolutely amazing! CSU is right downtown and Horsetooth Reservoir  is a gorgeous place to drive, bike, swim, paddle boat, or whatever else you wish to do outside. We stayed the first night in a motel as Shannon surprised us with a room at the the good ol' Budget Host.

The next night, and the main point of this post, we stayed at Shannon's old neighbors house and was fed the most delicious meal! We even had GUACAMOLE!!!! I love a good guac. Sharon, Shannon's neighbor (kind of cool with the sh sh deal there), treated us like family and we drank the night away as we watched the sunset on her unbelievable back deck. Her hospitality was so incredible and really makes you appreciate people that are so nice. Sharon if you ever read this I would like to say thank you again for everything and I hope to cross paths again one day!

Anywho we went to Boulder the next night and stayed at Shannon's cousins freshmen dorm. Well, I slept in the dorm. To put it simply, the altitude and freshmen craziness that ensued that night ended with Evan and Shannon sleeping in the car. "Just trying to get an early jump on the drive tomorrow" was Evans attempt at an excuse. Thank you to Kelsey Love for the hospitality and to you and all of your friends for the entertainment.


Then we moved to Denver.

Fort Collins Thrift Store

Check out these gems we picked up at the Fort Collins Thrift Store for a grand total of $15!

Straps on Straps on Straps (we don't have stacks)

I finished my last shift last night with a whopping 13 hours of nothing. We packed up the jeep yesterday with all of our gear. It almost looks like we know what we're doing out in the wilderness with bikes, snowboards and a kayak. We used about 10 straps for all of it and they all intertwine and somehow secure everything down. Fingers crossed we didn't just strap the straps to the straps.
I packed up the last of my things including the most important bag of essentials, which pretty much consists of deodorant, a few choice drugs (asprin, vitamin c, caffeine) and my harmonicas, among other essential items needed for a road trip. I then left the heavy duty bug spray and bear mace to my roommate Corey and sardined myself into the back of the jeep and prepared for the 9 hour drive to Fort Collins. My dad lived in Fort Collins for 4 years so Im excited to follow his
 footsteps and begin what will be the most exciting time of my life!
Here are some things that I'd like to say. First off, light switches outside of bathrooms are silly, sometimes hard to find in the dark but great for an easy practical joke (the old friend pooping the dark gag). Separation of whites and darks in laundry is silly and a waste of time and so is matching socks. If anyone cares what my socks look like, you can go suck a lemon!

Bison Jam

These jerks think they own the place, walk wherever they feel ... some of us have places to go!

Couple of them even tried to charge me!  Didn't back down of course and came out the alpha.

Check this out!

Hiking Hungover

After a night of $2 Rolling Rocks, Moose Drool (a local beer) and flip cup at the employee pub we tried waking up early and hiking 15 miles round trip to Oozel's Pool.   The waking up early didn't happen but the hiking sure did.  Hungover and tired we stocked up on water and lunchables and drove an hour to the start of the trail. 
The hike involved going up a bunch of hills and crossing an ice cold river and it totally sucked but when we eventually got there it was all worth it.  Best waterfall I've ever seen and a ridiculous swimming spot.  after eating lunch and playing around in the pool we headed back and made it out of the forest just as the sun was going down. Phew!
Great hike if you are looking for a good night sleep ... except if you're Eric who had to work a 10 hour shift as soon as we got back.  "Sleep is a state of mind" - Eric Markow

The arrival

Took this just as they got here! Evan looked a little uglier than I had remembered and Shannon looked stunning as per usual. Glad they made it safe, now a few more days in yellowstone and we head to fort collins!

Finally made it to Yellowstone

Arrived at 10:30 Eric had us headed out by 10:45.  Big change from the past four days of sitting in the car.  Totally worth it.

Boy vs Bat: story as old as time

For the four or five people that read this blog, you may be asking yourself "Gosh, I wonder what Eric has been doing all summer?". Well besides fighting off wolves, slapping elk, and exploring the wilderness, I do in fact work three or four days a week. I work the night shift at the front desk of the Grant Village lodge. Now the job consists of me doing pretty much nothing, just at the hours of the night where most people would like to be sleeping. 

Well the other night ,as the anticipation of Evan's arrival increased,  I was doing my usual nothing at the front desk when all of a sudden I got dive bombed by a flying night critter. It was a BAT, and this sucker was out for blood, heading straight for my head. I quickly Macgrubered a helmet for protection and grabbed a snow pole and it was on! (see picture below). The bat made a few more dives as I dodged and shot rubber bands. The game of cat and mouse, or should i say bat and mouse, continued for a solid three hours until finally the thing posted up way too high on the ceiling for me to reach. 

At this point i devised a long poking device and poked the guy until he made one more attempt at murdering me but failed and fell to the ground. I captured him with a box and put him outside. Unfortunately bats are not like birds and you cannot just release them live doves to fly away in a glamorous show. They need to be hanging and do a swooping motion to start flight. So as Malcolm (which i came to call him) hissed and stared me down with devil eyes, I picked him up, hung him from a ledge and he took a nap. 20 minutes later he flew away. Mission accomplished! 

Evan should be here in 2 hours!

Wyoming is Pretty

Mount Rushmore

After driving through the amber waves of grain of South Dakota we finally reached these four blokes

Day 3

The third day was a doozy.  Woke up at the motel 6 in Rockford, Illinois and hit the road.  Stopped in Madison Wisconsin briefly, which was awesome .  Great college town, on a big lake, cool stadium and even saw a university bus with Pabst Blue Ribbon logos all over it!  Had to leave quickly to get to the Spam Museum but I would love to go back and walk around some more.
After picking up some cheddar cheese and driving four and a half hours we arrived at the Spam Museum. What a glorious place.  We took the free tour, which was self guided, and learned about the great American, war winning, delicious product that is Spam.  Did you know that 3 cans of Spam are consumed each second in America? Or that 6 billion cans of Spam would reach from Austin, MN (home of the Spam Museum) to the moon and wrap around it 20 times! Great stuff.
 
After nabbing a few shirts at the gift shop and uploading the first public photo of me and the Spam Museum to google maps it was back to driving.  We made it out of Minnesota around sun down and drove about halfway through South Dakota before calling it a day. Amazing how much corn there was in Minnesota. Saw no lakes either.  Only 668 miles to Eric.  We're coming buddy!!

The wait

As I wait for Evan to arrive I have been doing my usual routine. I ran into this fella on my walk back from dinner and had to do a little bob and weaving as he made his velociraptor noises and charged me shortly after the picture was taken. Stay further away from the elk was the lesson learned.

I've also been contemplating just what exactly we will do in Denver. On the top of my list is: karate classes, some agriculture, Evans modeling career (lean and mean just off a cancer diet) and the possibility of throwing peanuts and beer at mile high stadium while watching my broncos go to the superbowl behind a questionably necked peyton manning.

More to follow.

Today in Indiana

This is just about all there is to do in Indiana

Seneca Lake

Splendid NFL Sunday at the lake. Picked up Shannon now time to put some serious driving hours in.  Hopefully Chicago by night fall.

Day 1

Jeeps packed.  Let the journey begin!